Gunman ends former ECC football player's dreams

Sept. 15 loomed large for Ken McRoyal and his family. His University of Idaho Vandals were scheduled to meet Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

The 22-year-old football star out of Carson High School and El Camino College was ready. His mother, father and other family members in New Orleans planned to watch him play in person for the first time.

"We were all going to Baton Rouge," said his cousin, Allyson Manumaleuna, an El Segundo resident. "It's not to happen now."

Just a week after McRoyal learned he had earned a full-ride football scholarship for his senior year, a gunman took his life. Someone shot him to death at a party in Lincoln Heights early Sunday, ending McRoyal's and his family's dreams.

"I never thought it would be Ken," Manumaleuna said. "I thought I would be planning his (NFL) draft party before I would be planning his funeral."

At McRoyal's university in Moscow, his hometown in Louisiana's Hollygrove community, and at El Camino College near Torrance, friends, coaches and family mourned their loss.

About 100 people attended a candlelight vigil Sunday night at El Camino.

"It's a sad day for us," El Camino football coach John Featherstone said. "Kenny was always a really nice young man, real fiery guy and a fun guy to be around. He wasn't a great student when he got here, and he ended up being a great student at the end."

McRoyal was living in New Orleans with his mother and sisters when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The family lost everything, including their house, walking through neck-high water to escape. They rode on the back of somebody's truck to get to dry land.

They moved to Southern California to stay with relatives. It was the first time his mother, Stacey McRoyal, had left New Orleans, the first time she ever traveled on a jet.

They moved in with Manumaleuna's family in the unincorporated area near Carson.

Before long, his sisters moved in with grandparents in Texas. His mother, a nurse, returned to work at a hospital in New Orleans. McRoyal remained in California and went to school in Carson.

"He struggled a lot with authority and listening," his cousin said. "He always had a lot to say. His coaches stuck through it with him."

Grades prevented him from attending a major college football program, so he went to El Camino.

Kevin Duncan, an assistant football coach, recruited McRoyal to El Camino. The question was never about his athletic ability or personality. It was about his studies.

"As a player, he was phenomenal," Duncan said. "He was an unbelievable player."

McRoyal worked hard, improving his study habits. While at El Camino about 1 1/2 years ago, his daughter, Koi, was born.

Duncan said her birth made McRoyal understand responsibility, "taking him to another level as to being a man." He had a newfound sense of purpose that made him realize he needed to study hard and earn a college degree, Duncan said.

But last July 2, while attending a party at a home on Gunlock Avenue in Carson, someone shot McRoyal in the thigh.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Austin, who responded to the shooting, said McRoyal already was at a hospital when deputies arrived.

Investigators suspected McRoyal was an innocent man hit by a stray bullet, but he never returned their telephone calls.

McRoyal recovered, rehabilitated and returned to Idaho to play football.

He was a "walk-on" at Idaho last year, attempting to join his friend, former Carson Colt quarterback Dominique Blackman, who persuaded Coach Robb Akey to give McRoyal a tryout when the team needed a wide receiver.

"Initially, you see a whole lot of teeth, a big smile," Akey said. "He brought a lot of life and a lot of spark to the things he was doing."

The 5-foot-9, 184-pound wide receiver made it, playing in eight games, starting the finale against the University of Nevada, Reno. He had six receptions for 35 yards and played on special teams.

His performance during recent spring practice earned him a job as the Vandals' starting slot receiver. Akey said he informed him of his scholarship about a week ago.

McRoyal finished his classes for the semester and stopped by his coach's office last week to say goodbye. They planned to reunite June 11 to prepare for the 2012 season.

"I know how excited he was," Akey said. "It's unfortunate the young man will not be able to fulfill that goal."

McRoyal returned to California last week. He visited his daughter on Friday in Carson. She recognized his face from his Skype calls over the Internet.

"He was just like a changed man," Manumaleuna said. "Ken spent the whole day spoiling her, buying her stuff, spending daddy and daughter time."

On his Facebook page, where his cover photo announces "The World is Yours," McRoyal wrote Friday that he was "Back to Cali to spend time with my daughter, Memorial Day BBQ with my family, and work out 24/7."

Saturday night, McRoyal went to a friend's 21st birthday party in Lakewood. He and some friends then headed for a party in Lincoln Heights, east of downtown L.A. Police said McRoyal got into an argument with a small group of men at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. One shot him in the neck area and fled.

McRoyal died at County-USC Medical Center.

"When I got the call, I thought, `Not again,"' Manumaleuna said. This time, when she arrived at the hospital, McRoyal was dead.

"I'm angry with whoever did this. I know Ken had changed. He had changed so much," Manumaleuna said. "He knew that arguments turn to something bigger. He learned to walk away from stuff now. I don't know what happened that night."

Back home in the Ninth Ward, his mother believed her son was safe in Southern California, away from the high crime rates in New Orleans, his cousin said.

Most of his friends in New Orleans were in jail or dead.

But Manumaleuna, who helped her mother, Rhonda, raise McRoyal, said she worried about him anytime he went out.

"Just being a young black man," she said. "I just always wanted him to be safe. I was always nervous that something was going to happen."

Akey said he had spent his time informing team captains and players. Most of his team scattered across the country once school ended. Word was slowly spreading.

"I think you go through all the emotions," Akey said. "I teared up. ... Not a good way to spend Mother's Day."

Akey said he plans to attend services next week. The services are set for May 23 at Mission Ebenezer Family Church in Carson.

McRoyal is the first player to die while a member of any of Akey's teams.